Pyrographer Alexandra Bowers redefines wood burning

Artist Alexandra (Lexi) Bowers’ work is greatly influenced by her home state of Arizona. Born and raised in Scottsdale, Bowers is a pyrographer (also known as a wood burning artist).

As a child, Bowers spent her days outdoors with her family exploring the natural wonders of the desert. This fostered a curiosity for nature, which developed into the focus of her artwork.

She discovered wood burning on a lark about eight years ago. Her medium of choice is wood, which she adorns with unique and intricate hand burned drawings of local flora, fauna, and animals. “I like to work on red birch, which is a light wood with a pinkish hue, that allows for the type of contrast that helps me render my subject matter,” she says.

During her nature explorations, she extensively studies and records her findings, which she then utilizes to produce wood burned studies of plants and animals. “With my artwork I’m trying to push the pre-conceived ideas of wood burning being thought of as a ‘craft-based’ form of art making, into a high-brow technique,” she explains.

Trained in the arts, Bowers received her bachelor of arts degree in 2012 from the Herberger Institute For Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. She has since exhibited her artwork across the Valley at Legend City Studios, Made Boutique, PhiCA, Practical Art, Shemer Art Center, Tempe Center for the Arts, and Tilt Gallery, among others.

Drawing inspiration from her wood burning, Bowers has branched out and created items such as t-shirts, bookmarks, kitchenware, and other commissioned works, which she sells through her online store at ironroot.co. Her mission for Iron Root is to offer customers an opportunity to decorate their homes and utilize household items that reflect designs and imagery from a place she’s always called home. To learn more about Bowers and her artwork, visit alexandrabowersart.com.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at the Heard Museum

In its only North American stop, the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibition comes to the Heard Museum in Phoenix. Showcasing the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection in the new Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust Grand Gallery, the collection boasts 33 paintings by the renowned Mexican artists, including such works as Kahlo’s Self Portrait with Monkeys and Diego on My Mind, and Rivera’s Calla Lily Vendor and Sunflowers. Also on display are more than 50 photographs of the artists and their life taken by such acclaimed photographers as Edward Weston, Lola Álvarez Bravo and Frida Kahlo’s father, Guillermo Kahlo, among others. The exhibit will also feature clothing and jewelry of the style that Frida Kahlo chose to wear. This special exhibition will be on display through August 20 and there is an additional ticket fee of $7 for this exhibition, in addition to general museum admission for non-members).

The Heard Museum is located at 2301 N. Central Ave, Phoenix. Cost of admission for Adults $23, Seniors (65+) $18.50, Students (with I.D.) $12.50, Children 6 to12 years, $12.50, Children 2 to 5 years, $5, Children younger than 2 years, free, American Indians $5, and free for Heard Museum Members. For more information, heard.org.